Parental addiction fuels the foster care

system. It feeds the juvenile justice

system. It affects welfare caseloads, school

performance, and child health.

Innocent Children are Punished by the Effects of

Their Parent’s Addiction In Five Key Ways:

1. GENERATIONAL CURSES. Children of addicted parents are the highest

risk group of children to become alcohol and drug abusers. Up to 70% of the
children of addicts become addicted to drugs themselves.
2. PARENTS WHO USE, OFTEN ABUSE. Parental substance abuse is implicated
in seven of 10 cases of child abuse and neglect, and is responsible for $10
billion of the $14 billion spent nationally each year on child welfare costs.
3. Children behaving badly. Research on behavioral problems
demonstrated by children of alcoholics/drug addicts has revealed some of the
following traits: lack of empathy for other persons; decreased social adequacy
and interpersonal adaptability; low self-esteem; and lack of control over
the environment.
4. Why Children can’t learn. Children of addicted parents score lower on
tests measuring school achievement as well as exhibiting other difficulties in
school. Sons of addicted parents performed worse on all domains measuring
school achievement, especially math. In one study, 41% of addicted parents
reported that at least one of their children repeated a grade in school, 69% were
involved in truancy, and 30% had been suspended from school.
5. Who pays. The cost of physical and mental health problems of children from
addicted parents is staggering. It is estimated that parental substance abuse
and addiction are the chief cause in at least 70% to 90% of all child welfare
spending. On average, taxpaying families in America pay $1,000 per year to
subsidize welfare costs.
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Sources: The National Council on Alcoholism and Dependence; National Association of Children of Alcoholics and the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (2004).

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IN SHORT, DRUG AND ALCOHOL
ADDICTION COSTS ALL OF US.
RR-357
LIES COVER UP
ADDICTION.
NUMBERS TELL
THE TRUTH.
The Most Serious “Side Effects” of Drugs and Alcohol
are the 9 Million American Children Who Live In
Homes Where One or Both Parents are Addicts.